GO: Juliette Mapp at Danspace Project

Juliette Mapp’s “Anna, Ikea and I”–the kinetic-aural memoir of her development in dance–is huge. Simply huge. And beautiful. And arguably the most assured, definitive presentation–and certainly the most emotionally affecting, as I see it–in this season’s round of contemporary dance. Premiered last night, it concludes tomorrow evening, Saturday, at Danspace Project, and you should make every effort to get there (even in a snowstorm).

For Eva’s full review, go here.From Apollinaire: One disappointment is the shortened runs at Danspace (in the gorgeous St. Mark’s Church in the East Village). There used to be an occasional Sunday performance. And it made a difference. Recently, it’s been strictly Thursday through Saturday. Critics et. al. often have three shows in a row they have to go to for story purposes. And for everyone else, the run is too short for word of mouth to have a chance. As I won’t get to see this show (hehe), I really hope Mapp gets to have an encore week of performances.
The recent encore trend in downtown dance has been a smart development. Perhaps Danspace could extend its spring season into July, where they could have encores to coincide with the Lincoln Center Festival. In fact, they could have their OWN festival–perhaps a best of compilation in conjunction with PS 122, DTW, Joyce SoHo and Dance New Amsterdam. If the past few years are any measure, this festival will trump the uptown one!! Specifically for Danspace, if the Church worship schedule has put Wednesday and Sunday off limits, it could do what BAM often does: begin with a Tuesday performance, then run Thursday through Saturday.
Back to GO. For those of you who live in Long Island here’s another recommendation: the Dutch troupe ISH, mixing extreme sports with goofy clowning.

Apollinaire Scherr

is the New York-based dance critic for the Financial Times. She has written regularly for The New Yorker, The New York Times, and Newsday, as well as SF Weekly and the East Bay Express, in the Bay Area. She has contributed to... Read More…

Foot in Mouth

This blog's concern is the tricky business of recognizing dance's peculiar language and history … [Read More...]